Table of Contents

1. Greetingz
2. October Timeline
3. Contest Results — September
4. Upcoming Eventz
5. Lizzie in the Newz
6. Dear Abby
7. Thiz and Thatz

1. GREETINGZ

Hello again! This is the month of ghosts and goblins and things that go bump in the night. Certainly one of my favorite months of the year. The weather starts to get cooler, the leaves turn color, and the holidays are just around the corner. Is it me or has Target put out the Christmas decorations ALREADY! Every year it seems to be earlier and earlier. Well I am not ready for that holiday yet, not with Halloween a' coming. My sister and I have some great memories of trick or treating together, even as adults. The trick, we finally found, was to drive to the rich section of town and ring those doorbells. Not only did they give away whole candy bars and not the bite-sized versions, but we got the thrill of looking inside their mansions when they opened their doors to us. One man was playing the organ dressed as the phantom of the opera. A real organ! And if memory serves me right, he was the man who have away quarters instead of candy! That night we really hit the jackpot!

So to all of you still young enough to trick or treat, or young at heart enough to enjoy giving the candy away to the ghosties and devils who come to your door, I say HAPPY HALLOWEEN! And happy 85 days before Christmas to you too, while I'm at it.

PS: If you don't like the music, you can find the controls at the bottom of this page.

Stefani Koorey

2. OCTOBER TIMELINE

These are the events related to the Lizzie Borden case that occurred in the month of October:

• Oct. 1, 1887: Andrew J. Borden gives Emma and Lizzie the Ferry St. property for $1.00
• Oct. 1, 1922: Dr. Dolan dies in Fall River, 64 years old
• Oct. 3, 1893: Lizzie attends the Chicago World's Fair
• Oct. 3, 1900: Judge Josiah Coleman Blaisdell dies in Fall RIver, at age 80
• Oct. 3, 1904: Mary Russell, night matron of central police station, dies at the age of 75
• Oct. 6, 1993: Agnes deMille, author of Lizzie Borden: Dance of Death, dies, age 88
• Oct. 8, 1874: Nance O'Neil born in Oakland, CA
• Oct. 9, 1901: Ellen Egan's husband, Owen, dies in Fall River, age 43
• Oct. 11, 1955: Mr. Ernest A. Terry, Lizzie's chauffeur, dies in Fall River, age 70
• Oct. 13, 1853: Phebe Davenport Borden, first wife of Abraham, dies at the age of 64
• Oct. 17, 1907: Barbara Watters, author of The Astrologer Looks at Murder, is born in Chicago
• Oct. 19, 1923: Andrew Jackson Jennings dies in Truesdale Hospital, Fall River, age 74
• Oct. 22, 1820: Judge Josiah Coleman Blaisdell is born in Campton, NH
• Oct. 23, 1904: Victoria Lincoln, author of A Private Disgrace: Lizzie Borden by Daylight, is born in Fall River
• Oct. 24, 1906: John Morse and Amos R. Caswell purchase lot in Fairhaven from George H. Howland
• Oct. 28, 1893: Captain Philip Harrington dies in Newport, RI, at the age of 34, just 17 days after his second wedding
• Oct. 29, 1895: Southard Harrison Miller dies
• Oct. 30, 1842: Allan Cunningham, author of Home, Home dies in London
• Oct. 30, 1899: Joseph Carpenter dies in Worcester, MA, at age 44
• Oct. 31, 1852: Mary Eleanor (Wilkins) Freeman, author of The Long Arm, the first detective story to use the Borden murder case, is born

   

  

3. CONTEST RESULTS - SEPTEMBER

I said last month that I felt like giving things away but that you had to work a bit for your prizes. Below is an illustration of Knowlton and Moody walking on the street in 1892 or 1893. It desperately needed a caption. And the funnier the better! So here were the rules of this contest:

Click on the image and take a gander at the image. What ARE these men saying? Come up with a great caption to this picture and win!

Winners were blindly determined by a committee of Borden buffs.

First place wins a pair of Pear Candles. Second place wins a Lizzie Borden door hanger (one side says "Enter at Your Own Risk" and the other "Please Knock and Axe Me if You Can Enter"), Third place wins a book of 31 old-time Victorian Children's Stickers.

click on thumbnail to view image

DRUMROLL PLEAZE: And the winners are . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

FIRST PLACE: Philip Rife, Orcas Island, WA, with his entry:

"Your little ditty about Lizzie giving her mother 40 whacks was a stroke of genius!"

SECOND PLACE: Philip Rife, Orcas Island, WA, with his entry:

"Cheer up ... There's always book and kinetoscope deals!"

AND A TWO-WAY TIE FOR THIRD PLACE GOES TO: Susan Magliaro, CA, with her entry:

MOODY:  So, do you think we have a chance of getting a guilty verdict? KNOWLTON:  No, not a snowball's chance in hell!  All the evidence we have is circumstantial.  But, I'll tell you what we can do. MOODY:  What's that? KNOWLTON:  Years from now people will be studying this case, we can leave out some of the witness', not ask certain questions that should be asked, it will drive them crazy!  They'll never be able to figure it out! 

AND Sherry Chapman with her entry:

Moody:  "Is he done drawing us yet?  My feet are killing me."

CONGRATULATIONS!!

4. UPCOMING EVENTZ:

While this doesn't specifically qualify as an event, per se, I did want you to know that there is a very strange thing for sale on eBay right now. Someone is selling what they say is a lock of Lizzie's hair. I have my doubts as to the authenticity of this item, but I have no direct knowledge of this seller or the provenance of the hair for sale. I plan to watch the bidding on this one! We are also discussing it on the Lizzie Borden Society Forum right now, so stop on by and put your two cents worth in while you are there.

Here is a link to the sale followed by a link to the discussion:

eBay sale

Forum discussion

The Shaw Festival announces a 20% discount to subscribers of the Lizzie Borden Newzletter to "Blood Relations" by Sharon Pollock, written 1980, June to November 30.

“a psychological rollercoaster ride”—the Toronto Star

Blood Relations by Sharon Pollock - at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, running now until November 30th.

Receive a 20% discount on tickets to see Blood Relations*

Lizzie fans like you, won’t want to miss this fascinating interweaving of fact and legend in Sharon Pollock’s Blood Relations. Although Lizzie was never convicted and walked away from the murder trial with her freedom, her notoriety never faded. Pollock picks up her story ten years later, when Lizzie’s relationship with a Boston Actress draws them both into re-enacting the events that led up to the murders.

Call 1-800-511-7429 to order tickets, or to receive Shaw Festival information.

*Tickets are for selected performances. Call the Box Office for details.
Quote discount code LF when ordering.

The Shaw Festival is one of the largest repertory companies in North America, and the only theatre that specializes in plays written by Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries — "plays about the beginning of the modern world." Productions run April to November in three different theatres, in a beautiful village 20 minutes down-river from Niagara Falls, and two hours from Toronto.

Visit their web site for ticket information.

Special Thanks to Kay Meilleur, Senior Manager Marketing Services, The Shaw Festival
for sending us these great photos of the show!

Photos of Michael Ball, Jane Perry and Laurie Paton by David Cooper.

5. LIZZIE IN THE NEWZ

Sherry Chapman found this great site she said I could pass along to you all. It is a huge collection of tourism links to the South Coast region of Massachusetts. Since many of you may be traveling to this neck of the woods in the near future, you might want to give this site some of your time before you completely plan out your trip. Thanks, Sherry!

Here is the site.

SunSpot.net has a new article on line about the case you might enjoy.

Here is that link.

7. THIZ AND THATZ

Of Interest:

• Happy Birthday Greetings to the following Newzletter subscribers:
  
  October 5 — Nancie Wolfe
  October 10 — Penny
  October 14 — Esabell Zellman
  October 18 — Joe Heyer
  October 31 — Marlene Gawron

• Membership in the Fall River Historical Society: Membership to the Historical Society is available for the following rates: Individual ($25.00 per year); Family (2 adults and all children under 17 living at the same address, $40.00 per year); Lifetime ($500.00). Member benefits include: Member newsletter; unlimited free admission for museum tours for member and one guest; invitations to quarterly meetings; invitations to "Members Only" previews and social gatherings; 10% discount on Museum Shop and mail order sales; special travel opportunities; discounted research rates; other special member privileges. All memberships are renewable annually on May 1, excepting Lifetime. Museum membership is payable by check, money order, or credit card (Visa, MasterCard, or American Express). The application can be mailed, accompanied by payment, to:

  Fall River Historical Society
  451 Rock Street
  Fall River, Massachusetts 02720
  
  Checks should be made payable to FALL RIVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Memberships paid by credit card may be faxed to (508) 675-5754.

— And now for some humor: (thanks John!) SENIOR MOMENTS:

As a senior citizen was driving down the freeway, his car phone rang. Answering, he heard his wife's voice urgently warning him, "Herman, I just heard on the news that there's a car going the wrong way on Interstate 77. Please be careful!" "Hell," said Herman, "It's not just one car. It's hundreds of them!"

Three retirees, each with a hearing loss, were playing golf one fine March day. One remarked to the other, "Windy, isn't it?" "No," the second man replied, "it's Thursday." And the third man chimed in, "So am I. Let's have a beer."

Two elderly ladies had been friends for many decades. Over the years they had shared all kinds of activities and adventures. Lately, their activities had been limited to meeting a few times a week to play cards. One day they were playing cards when one looked at the other and said, "Now don't get mad at me.....I know we've been friends for a long time....but I just can't think of your name! I've thought and thought, but I! can't remember it. Please tell me what your name is." Her friend glared at her. For at least three minutes she just stared and glared at her. Finally she said, "How soon do you need to know?

80-year old Bessie bursts into the rec room at the retirement home. She holds her clenched fist in the air and announces, "Anyone who can guess what's in my hand can have sex with me tonight!!" An elderly gentleman in the rear shouts out, "An elephant?" Bessie thinks a minute and says, "Close enough."

Three sisters, ages 92, 94, and 96 live in a house together. One night the 96 year old draws a bath. She puts one foot in and pauses. She yells down the stairs, "Was I getting in or out of the bath?" The 94-year-old yells back, "I don't know. I'll come up and see." She starts up the stairs and pauses. Then, she yells, "Was I going up the stairs or down?" The 92 year old is sitting at the kitchen table having tea, listening to her sisters. She shakes her head and says, "I sure hope I never get that forgetful." She knocks on wood for good measure. She then yells, "I'll come up and help both of you as soon as I see who's at the door."

The Lizzie Borden Newzletter is published by the Lizzie Borden Virtual Museum and Library, (c) copyright 2003. All rights reserved.